The present disclosure relates generally to the field of control equipment such as actuators, sensors, controllers, and other types of devices that can be used for monitoring or controlling an automated system or process. The present disclosure relates more particularly to systems and methods for configuring and communicating with control equipment in a building automation system.
A building automation system (BAS) is, in general, a system of devices configured to control, monitor, and manage equipment in or around a building or building area. A BAS can include a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, a security system, a lighting system, a fire alerting system, another system that is capable of managing building functions or devices, or any combination thereof. BAS devices may be installed in any environment (e.g., an indoor area or an outdoor area) and the environment may include any number of buildings, spaces, zones, rooms, or areas. A BAS may include METASYS building controllers or other devices sold by Johnson Controls, Inc., as well as building devices and components from other sources.
A BAS may include one or more computer systems (e.g., servers, BAS controllers, etc.) that serve as enterprise level controllers, application or data servers, head nodes, master controllers, or field controllers for the BAS. Such computer systems may communicate with multiple downstream building systems or subsystems (e.g., an HVAC system, a security system, etc.) according to like or disparate protocols (e.g., LON, BACnet, etc.). The computer systems may also provide one or more human-machine interfaces or client interfaces (e.g., graphical user interfaces, reporting interfaces, text-based computer interfaces, client-facing web services, web servers that provide pages to web clients, etc.) for controlling, viewing, or otherwise interacting with the BAS, its subsystems, and devices. A BAS may include various types of controllable equipment (e.g., chillers, boilers, air handling units, dampers, motors, actuators, pumps, fans, etc.) that can be used to achieve a desired environment, state, or condition within a controlled space.
In some BAS implementations, it may be desirable to arrange two or more actuators in tandem (e.g., in a master-slave configuration). Conventional actuators generally include a physical switch (e.g., a detent potentiometer) attached to the actuator for configuring the actuator to operate as either the master or the slave in a master-slave configuration. It can be challenging to properly configure tandem-mounted actuators, especially when access to the actuators is restricted or when the proper master-slave configuration is unclear.
Other types of control equipment also generally require physical access to the equipment for various activities such as commissioning, programming, setting addresses, installing firmware, performing diagnostics, and/or reading a current operating status. For example, physical access to the circuit board of a control device may be required to program the device. It can be difficult to access control devices that are mounted in a confined space or sealed from the external environment.